Numerous articles are packaged in boxes or cartons fabricated of paperboard, fiberboard, chipboard and the like with the carton being enveloped by a heat-shrinkable plastic or shrink-type plastic film or overwrap. Many kinds of natural and synthetic polymers can be formed into relatively thin sheets of films (usually 3 mils or less). Films which shrink in length and/or width when heat is applied are known as shrink films. Such films when subjected to heat shrink up around an object in both high profile and low profile regions and conform to the object to give a neat, attractive package. Commercially available shrink-type films or heat-shrinkable plastics are formed from polyolefins such as polyethylene, polypropylene and copolymers thereof, polyvinyls, such as polyvinyl chloride, such as "Saran Wrap", polystyrene and the like. The use of shrink-type films as a package overwrap affords a number of advantages, with one major advantage being that it assures the purchaser as to the integrity of the packaged article or articles. Thus, for example, when a puzzle consisting of many pieces is packaged in a carton having an unbroken overwrap, the purchaser is assured that the package has not been opened with possible loss of one or more pieces of the puzzle. On the other hand, when an overwrap film on a packaged article is disrupted, torn or broken, the sales appeal of the package is greatly diminished with many prospective customers being reluctant or refusing to purchase the article. This problem is particularly acute for manufacturers of jigsaw puzzles for which the slightest imperfection in the integrity of the packaging creats a psychological barrier to purchase. This often occurs even when by close inspection it can be easily determined that a portion of the overwrap material only is torn or broken and the overwrapped carton itself has not been opened. This negative sales appeal to customers resulting from torn or broken overwrap on packages causes economic loss to retailers, distributors and manufacturers of packaged articles.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide a neat, attractive article container having an unbroken, heat-shrinkable plastic film overwrap thereon which gives assurance as to the integrity of the package.
It is another object of the invention to provide an article container overwrapped with a heat-shrinkable plastic film in which disruption or breakage of the plastic overwrap is significantly reduced.
It is another object of the invention to provide a neat, attractive container having a heat-shrinkable plastic overwrap which is much less susceptible to being torn or broken during distribution and display than shrink film overwrapped prior art containers.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of forming an article package having an unbroken, heat-shrinkable plastic overwrap thereon.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method of forming a package, including a carton and overwrap therefor, which method is simple and economical and provides a sturdy package on which the overwrap remains intact during distribution and display.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of forming a package including a carton overwrapped first within an intermediate paper overwrap and finally with a heat-shrinkable plastic film.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a packaging article comprising a carton characterized by the absence of sharp points at the corners thereof which is overwrapped with a heat-shrinkable plastic film such that the plastic film is not subjected to stress forces at the corners and thus resists breakage during handling, distribution and storage. The carton is formed of a rigid or semi-rigid material such as hardboard, chipboard, fiberboard and the like having a top and bottom and a plurality of sides disposed in angularly intersecting planes which define a plurality of angular corners and having portions of the apex regions of said corners cut-away so as to define a non-angular or blunt corner. The carton of the invention can be formed as a foldable box from a single blank or be composed of separable carton tray and lid components. In either case, the carton is formed with cut-out corners which do not present a sharp point or stress force to the plastic overwrap material.
The advantages and full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following disclosure and claims: